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Static Shock (TV Series)
Static Shock is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered in September 2000 on the Kids' WB!block and ran for four seasons, with a total of 52 half-hour episodes. The series centers around the adventures of DC Comics superhero Virgil Ovid Hawkins/Static and is loosely based on the original Static comics, which tended to be more violent and dealt with more mature themes. The series predates the re-appearance of Static in the main DC continuity by several years. After the show's initial run on The WB it was later picked up for rebroadcast by Cartoon Network, airing initially during the Miguzi block. Disney XD began airing reruns of the series (starting with season 1) in February 2009 in the United States. Currently, Warner Bros. has no plans to release the series on DVD. In 2011, the first season was made available for download on iTunes. AJ McLean and Neil Patrick Harris were special guests on the show. Plot Virgil was a simple fourteen-year-old trying to survive high school. His best friend is Richie Foley, and he has a crush on a girl named Frieda. He also has a dispute with a bully named "F-Stop" and was saved by a gang leader named Wade. Recently Wade had begun helping Virgil in hopes to recruit him, but Virgil is hesitant, as he knows his mother was killed in gangfire. Wade eventually leads Virgil to a restricted area for a gangfight against F-Stop's crew, which is interrupted by police helicopters, during the dispute between the gangs and police, a shot was fired releasing gas causing mutations among the people in the vicinity. (This event was later known as "The Big Bang".) It also caused Virgil to obtain the special power and ability to create, generate, absorb, and control electricity and magnetism and become known as "Static". But the gas also gave others surrounding the area to obtain their own powers, and unfortunately, it also led several of them to become super villains. The people who were mutated were then known as "Bang Babies", and their mutations apparently spread to other people around them, which explains how Richie obtained his own special ability of superhuman/advanced intelligence, and later became Virgil's partner named Gear. Gear's Gadgets *Static Saucer - A small piece of mylar that folds out to become a disk that Static rides on to fly through town. *Rocket Boots - Gear uses these boots as his method of transportation through town, like how Static uses his disc. *'Shock Box' - Walkie Talkies used between Virgil/Static and Richie/Gear to contact each other. The Shock boxes have been used also as voice recorders and as intercoms. In the episode "Future Shock," Static learns that Gear made a newer model that has holographic projection, and can store holographic video recordings. *'Tracking devices' - Static can attach these to people and track them as long as he is within a 2-mile radius. *'Zap Caps, 1st Edition' - Small grenades that, after being charged by Static, can create an explosion of electricity when thrown. *'Zap Caps, 2nd Edition' - Similar in appearance to the 1st edition, this version releases metal coils that wrap around the target on impact. *'Other Zap Caps' - These zap caps were specifically designed for certain meta-humans that Static and Gear have dealt with. Some had been used on Hot Streak and Aquamaria. One was used to give Aquamaria an antidote to turn her back to normal. *'Backpack' - Richie's/Gear's robot. Backpack is a super-computer, with a camera & tracking device, as well as a meta-human radar. Although Backpack can be controlled with a remote, it is linked with Gear, as it is Gear's intelligence and thoughts it can read and respond to. *'Time belt' - A belt created for Nina Crocker, who became a hero named Time-Zone. Unable to fully control her time-controlling/traveling abilities and powers, Gear created the belt to make sure that her ability would not randomly go off. Using a special remote that Gear programmed (originally a VCR remote,) the time of when to travel can be chosen, allowing much greater control over her time-controlling ability. 'Characters' Hawkins Family *'Virgil Hawkins/Static- '''an African-American high school student in the city of Dakota. As a result of accidental exposure to an experimental mutagen in an event known as the Big Bang, he gained the ability to control and manipulate electromagnetism, and uses these powers to become a superhero named "Static." Countless others who were also exposed gained a wide variety of mutations and abilities, and Static spends much of his time dealing with these "Bang Babies", many of whom use their abilities in selfish, harmful, and even criminal ways. *Robert Hawkins – A social worker who runs the Freeman Community Center as head counselor, he is a widower and the single father of two teenagers. Robert is a caring, understanding, but strict parent. He dislikes gangs and the destructive attitudes of most Bang Babies, and his work at the community center is motivated by a desire to counteract their bad influence on young people. In the episode "Static Shaq," it is mentioned that Robert has also been in the Marines and a camp counselor. In the episode "Blast from the Past," Robert states that when he was a kid, he was (and still is) a fan of the superhero Soul Power. In the episode "Linked," it is revealed that Robert played football in college, and he was nicknamed "Streak." At first, Robert disliked Static, believing that Static would one day go bad; his open opinion about Static in the episode "Aftershock" left Virgil worried that the Big Bang might have aftereffects. Robert remained unaware of his son's secret identity through most of the series, although part of him had suspicions about Virgil's behavior. In the episode "Kidnapped," Robert acknowledged the truth that had been right under his nose: his son, Virgil, was Static. In the end, Robert keeps his son's superhero identity along with Gear's secret, even from his daughter. *'Sharon Hawkins''' – Virgil's strong-willed, annoying, but caring, older sister. Sharon attends college, but still lives at home. She also volunteers at a hospital, and counsels young people at the Freeman Community Center, like her father. Sharon has always been a big fan of Static. Although deep down, she and her younger brother do love each other in a brother-sister way, but they frequently argue, challenge, and tease each other, mainly about things such as the household chores, his studying, and her cooking (which is usually barely edible). Sharon has been dating Adam Evans a.k.a. The Rubber-Band Man since the episode "Bent Out of Shape"; though she knows about his super identity, she genuinely cares for him. In the episode "Brother-Sister Act," Sharon notices how similar Static and Virgil are, and tries to pin him down with proof of her suspicions, but is later tricked into thinking that her suspicions were wrong. In the episode "Out of Africa," she was the recipient of a golden spider amulet, which temporarily granted her the power/ability to create illusions; however when she returned the amulet to Anansi, the abilities vanished. At the end of the fourth season, Sharon continues to be in the dark about her brother's superhero secret, though in the final episode "Power Outage," she becomes suspicious once again of Virgil's behavior until their father interrupts them. *'Jean Hawkins' - She is Virgil and Sharon's deceased mother, the deceased wife of Robert Hawkins, and the sister of Blayne Hawkins. She was accidentally killed by a stray gunshot during the Dakota Riots five years prior to the series. She was very important to all of her family, especially Virgil. She was seen in the episode "Tantrum" when Sharon and Robert were watching home movies. Virgil still frequently goes to visit his mother's grave and confess all his problems there. Jean was seen again in the episode "Flashback" when Static, Gear, and Ebon were transported back in time to the night she died. Although Static attempted to convince her to stay in a safe place (even revealing that he was her son Virgil from the future), she still left to go on duty as a paramedic, and was shot and killed that night by a stray bullet by gangs, but not before telling Virgil how proud she was of him having become a superhero - a statement which finally comforted Virgil over her untimely death. *Trina Jessup - Robert's new romantic love interest, sweetheart, and girlfriend. Trina is a police officer at Dakota Police Department. She is like a second mother to Virgil and Sharon, even if the former has no initial affinity towards her. She never discovers that Virgil is Static, but indirectly she helps him and Gear solve the crimes around Dakota. Richard "Richie" Osgood Foley/Gear Virgil's best friend and confidant. The first person to be clued in on Virgil's powers and a fan of superhero comics, Richie persuades Virgil to become a At first, he merely provides support for his friend, making gadgets for him and helping to cover for Virgil to protect his secret identity. In the third season, it is revealed Richie's passive exposure to the Bang Gas (assumed through his contact with Virgil) had given him super powers. His special ability and power is superhuman/enhanced intelligence, which enables him to easily invent rocket-powered boots and "Backpack", a highly intelligent multipurpose device capable of surveillance and other semi-independent activity which he wears on his back. With this equipment, he adopts the superhero identity "Gear" and becomes Static's full-time partner in crime-fighting. Richie did not appear in the Static comics, but is an amalgam of two of Virgil's best friends in that series: Richard 'Rick' Stone (who was also blonde and wore glasses) and Frieda Goren (with whom Virgil shared his secret identity as Static). Adam Evans- a meta-human whose body structure consists of living rubber, which he can shape into a wide variety of forms, even to the point of altering his physical appearance into that of another person. Adam is also a talented musician who is on the verge of a professional career. His greatest personal weakness is a reading disorder, which he has to struggle through. He is the brother of the villainous Bang Baby. Prior to the big bang, Adam was part of his brother's gang before he took a stock-clerk job at a music store called Stonegas Records. Rubber-Band Man first appears a tragic villain when he goes after an opportunistic record producer who had stolen one of his songs. He subsequently breaks out of prison but decides not to pursue a criminal career, however; he begins dating Virgil’s sister Sharon, and although he initially clashes with Static, he does not carry on his grudge against him after meeting Sharon and even reforms and becomes one of his allies in crime-fighting. While on patrol, Rubber-Band Man typically acts as an older brother figure to Static, keeping him from showing off and reminding him of consequences in their work, something that Adam's real brother Ebon never actually did when he looked after Adam prior to the Big Bang. It is unknown if Adam Evans was exposed to the cure for the Big Bang that neutralized many of the Bang Babies in Dakota at the end of the series. Shenice Vale/She-Bang is a girl who was genetically engenered in a lab to have enhanced/superhuman strength and agility. The two scientists who created her, Drs. Jonathan and Dolores Vale, took pity on her and took her home from the lab; although she was not their natural child, she and her husband still considered her their baby. Throughout her life, Shenice has been pursued by agents from the lab who want to recapture her for mass-cloning. In her first appearance in the episode "She-Bang," she hopes to fit in and be mistaken as a Bang-Baby in Dakota because it was frustrating for her to pretend to be a quiet wallflower of a girl. In her three appearances, she shows up Static and Gear nearly every time they face off against rogue meta-humans. Personality-wise, in her super-hero identity Shenice is not very modest or humble; her showing-off as She-Bang tends to get on Static's nerves to the point where it causes tension on their always shaky friendship, though she gradually learns her lesson. She has a little crush on Virgil/Static. Nina Crocker/Time-Zone – A Bang Baby with the ability to warp time, allowing her to travel into the past; during her time with her abilities, she was one of the strongest and most powerful metahumans on the planet. While looking for Static and Gear, she bumped into Ebon. He wanted to use her powers to avoid the cops. After being saved from Ebon, Gear ran tests on her and found out that she had no control over her powers. Since she wanted to become a hero, Gear made a remote that was linked to a belt around her costume. The remote helped her control her powers. Now named as the superhero Time-Zone, Nina became the third member of the Shock Pack, but her time as a member was brief: Due to an encounter with Ebon, Nina decided that her powers were too dangerous to keep, and went back in time to stop her past self from being present at the night of the Big Bang (by stealing her own bike, according to Richie. Nina is now a happy, ordinary girl, and has no memory of her life in the original timeline as Time-Zone.